UMIDIGINote 100 Cell Phone,Android 14 Unlocked Phones,16(8+8) GB+256GB/TF 1TB,6.8''HD+120Hz Display,50MP Camera,5000mAh+20W Fast Charging,4G Dual SIM Android Phone,AI Face/Fingerprint Unlock,NFC,GPS

I’m going to be brutally honest — this phone is impressive for what it is. The UMIDIGI Note 100 is a performance-packed budget device that makes you seriously question why anyone’s still paying $1,000 for a mainstream flagship. But while the hardware speaks for itself, the seller’s misleading information and silence on crucial limitations make this purchase a minefield for the average buyer.Let’s talk about what works first — and then we’ll get into the problems they’re conveniently glossing over.✅ The Positives — Why I Still Recommend This Phone8GB of RAM (plus virtual memory support)This phone absolutely chews through multitasking. App switching is fluid, background processes don’t constantly reload, and basic gaming is handled with ease. This alone puts it lightyears ahead of most other phones in the same price range.128GB storage with microSD supportStorage is generous and expandable — a feature most major brands have killed off in the name of profit. I appreciate having control over my own storage again.All-day battery lifeEven with moderate to heavy use, this device lasts. The power efficiency is clearly dialed in.Clean, bloat-free Android experienceNo weird overlays. No carrier bloat. No unwanted apps draining performance. It's Android the way it should be — clean, smooth, and responsive.Unlocked GSM bandsI activated my SIM card from a $70 prepaid AT&T Samsung phone, then popped it into this UMIDIGI. Result? Flawless calling, texting, data, and even VoLTE — despite the device not being “certified.” This trick won’t be obvious to everyone, but it’s a power move once you understand how to sidestep carrier gatekeeping.Dual SIM supportUseful for anyone juggling personal and work lines, international travel, or data-only SIMs.⚠️ The Technical Drawbacks (That You’ll Never See Mentioned in the Listing)Wi-Fi Signal is WeakHere’s a big one: Wi-Fi performance is underwhelming. Even sitting just one room away from the router, signal strength drops noticeably. Streaming and basic tasks remain usable, but speeds degrade, and latency-sensitive tasks like video calls can suffer. This points to a weak internal antenna design — a common flaw in budget phones, but nowhere in this listing does the seller even hint at it.Camera is functional, not impressiveIt gets the job done in daylight, but low-light shots and video clarity leave a lot to be desired. It’s acceptable, not exceptional.Speaker quality is flat and tinnyLoud enough to hear, but not enjoyable. Headphones or external speakers are a must for any media.Not Verizon-compatibleThis is GSM only. No CDMA support, which means no Verizon, no Visible, no luck. You wouldn’t know that unless you already understand the U.S. mobile landscape. And again — the seller says nothing.🔥 Now Let’s Talk About the Seller — and Why This Listing is MisleadingHere’s the part that genuinely annoys me: the seller is either completely out of touch with the U.S. mobile market or willfully omitting critical information — and neither is acceptable.This phone is not carrier-certified in the U.S., and they don’t make that clear. They list all the supported LTE bands, but fail to explain that band support ≠ full compatibility. In the U.S., phones need to be whitelisted for VoLTE and network access — especially on AT&T and Verizon. If you just drop your SIM in and expect it to work, you’re in for a rude surprise.They don’t warn you that you might need to activate your SIM in another phone first, or that your new SIM could get rejected entirely. They don’t disclose that AT&T can block unsupported IMEIs at any time. They don’t even address the Verizon/Visible incompatibility, which is a flat-out dealbreaker for many buyers.And let’s not forget the Wi-Fi signal issues, which are very real and not acknowledged anywhere in the product description. That’s not an oversight — that’s intentional omission to make the phone sound flawless.🎯 The Bottom LineHere’s the truth: if you know what you’re doing — if you understand how to work around AT&T’s activation requirements, and you don’t mind dealing with a few signal quirks — this phone is a phenomenal value. The performance is real. The RAM, storage, and software experience are excellent for the price.But if you’re a regular consumer just looking for a plug-and-play solution? You’re not getting the full picture from this listing — and the seller clearly has no intention of helping you get there.Buy this phone if you’re tech-savvy and want power on a budget. Avoid it if you expect full U.S. carrier support out of the box. And sellers — do better. People deserve the truth, not marketing spin.

First impressions are that it looks nice. I like the pattern on the back cover. I appreciate the screen protector and case (especially that the screen protector was already applied so that I wouldn't have to). I question how easy it would be to get a new one of either though.So far the screen resolution looks totally good enough, next to my Samsung Galaxy S24. I struggled to see a difference.My S24 actually seems to have a bit of a yellow tinge compared to the Umidigi side by side, which is interesting. The Umidigi actually looks more clear because of that.The camera may be the worst part so far, at least compared to the S24 (I'm testing with the default primary cameras lenses and apps). Looking through the camera app, the framerate is much, much lower; borderline choppy compared to the smoothness of the S24. Autofocus also appears to be less reliable. It's hard to know for sure, but the resolution in photos it takes looks lower than those from my S24 in the same conditions. For example: taking a picture of text at a few feet away with both cameras shows how much blurrier the text from the Umidigi is when zoomed in. Picture colors are also washed out a bit compared to the S24. The camera looks like it would be really nice, but just isn't a great experience and doesn't live up to the listed specs.Navigation is quite snappy. I appreciate that it's a very basic android experience, without a lot of customized bloat added.Audio from the 3.5mm jack sounds very good. Surprisingly good. No noticeably audible noise floor, and everything sounds great through my IEMs. It's nice to have a headphone jack back on a phone. Unfortunately, it only appears to support 16bit & 48kbps max. Higher resolution audio is a controversial topic where it's mostly agreed to be unnecessary and un-hearable though, so unless you're a stickler wanting this for high res audio you'll probably be fine with it. You could also just use a dongle DAC, like you'd have to with any phone without an audio jack built in, though I must say, my Celest CD-2 had a loud hum while I was trying to use it. I don't know if that would be consistent among other DACs, but I wouldn't think so.Gaming performance might not satisfy some. I noticed even while playing an extremely simple matching game that the responsiveness started suffering as I made some quick matches. I've played this game on the S24 and have never once seen a dip in performance. To be honest, I wouldn't have expected such a simple game to suffer performance issues at all, pretty much regardless of the device. I can't imagine how it would handle some more demanding games but I assume disappointingly.I love the large built in memory and I really love the expandable memory slot. The built on storage seems quick enough as I was able to transfer some 85 gigabytes of flac files quickly enough. It didn't seem particularly slower than any other device moving that much data.Oh, one other thing. The display suffers from either some sort of smearing or maybe ghosting, where when I scroll through my app list or anything like that, there's a streak of the afterimage of each icon being dragged behind them. It's honestly kind of unpleasant to see, and definitely not something I'd expect to see on a device advertising 120hz. Also the brightness seems a bit low even at max brightness.All in all, I'm impressed what can be had for this price, but I have to admit I'm happy I don't have to use this as my primary phone.